Video: Brazilian man dies in Yarmouth shooting

Investigators say they are piecing together what happened early Sunday morning when a Yarmouth police officer fatally shot a man after a brief car chase in West Yarmouth.

John Basile

Investigators say they are piecing together what happened early Sunday morning when a Yarmouth police officer fatally shot a man after a brief car chase in West Yarmouth.

At a Monday news conference, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said 25-year-old Andre Martins, a Brazilian man who had been living on Mitchell’s Way in Hyannis, was shot to death by Yarmouth police officer Christopher Van Ness after a brief car chase that ended on Baxter Road, West Yarmouth.

The incident began when Van Ness spotted a car he believed was involved in suspicious activity and began following it. Police say Martins then began driving his car at speeds up to 80 or 90 miles per hour in the residential neighborhood. O’Keefe says Martins’ car then turned sharply onto the lawn of a house at 41 Baxter Road and attempted to make a U-turn. The car headed toward Van Ness who, according to investigators, fired "a number of shots" at the moving car.

An autopsy showed that Martins died of a gunshot that hit his heart and lungs.

Martins had no relatives in this country. At the time of the shooting he was accompanied by a 25-year-old woman, described by investigators as the mother of his two children. Her name was not released. She was not injured. O’Keefe sais she has given a full statement to police.

Van Ness is being interviewed by Massachusetts State Police detectives about the incident.